1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an article of footwear, such as a shoe, particularly a sports shoe, and more particularly a shoe adapted for athletics or race walking, and/or for the practice of sports such as gliding sports.
Articles of footwear of the aforementioned type can be used in fields such as walking or flat or mountain racing, hiking, or snowboarding, skiing, snowshoeing, roller skating, skateboarding, cycling, ball-playing sports, or the like.
2. Description of Background and Relevant Information
An article of footwear can have a low upper or a high upper. Footwear can also be relatively flexible or, on the contrary, they can be more rigid. However, the wearer's foot, in any case, must be adequately held. Indeed, an adequate support of the foot in the upper allows the article of footwear to be put to its best use.
With a flexible low shoe, such as used for mountain running, for example, adequate support facilitates the rolling movement of the foot as well as the transmission of sensory information. In particular, the seat of the shoe, i.e., in the heel area, includes a stiffener adapted to support the wearer's heel.
The stiffener is a relatively rigid element, which surrounds the lower portion of the wearer's heel. The stiffener maintains the upper and enables the transmission of use-related impulses into the heel area. It is therefore important that the respective shapes of the stiffener and of the user's heel be complementary. However, achieving precision in this regard is rare. Indeed, there are as many foot shapes as there are users. Shoes, however, are mass-produced with standard stiffeners and, as a consequence, a standard stiffener does not adapt completely to the heel of each user. As a result, the heel is not fully supported. A clearance often remains between the user's heel and the stiffener. Therefore, small interfering heel movements can occur in the upper in the area of the shoe seat. These movements can mislead the user as to his/her perceptions, or hinder him/her during the transmission of sensory information or during the transmission of forces to a sport apparatus such as a gliding board or a roller skate, or even be the cause of injuries.